The first murder of a couple attributed to Zodiac was not immediately claimed. Only seven months later – an FBI telegram highlights – Zodiac allegedly attributed the murders of David Arthur Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, killed in an isolated lay-by along Lake Herman Road, in Benicia, the December 20, 1968.
Why so many months of silence from a serial killer who would be known for his hasty compulsion to claim his own crimes by making calls to the police and sending notes?
Between the summer and early autumn of 1969, the man who allegedly sent twenty letters to various newspapers, signing himself with the name and symbol of a watch brand, phoned the police each time after assaulting a couple.
The first call was received by the Vallejo Police Department on July 5, 1969. It was made from a phone booth located at the intersection of Tuolumne and Springs road, at the “Joe’s Union” gas station (source: Vallejo police report – thanks to Daniele for the report). The second call was made after the attack on September 27, from a car wash booth at the Napa Car Wash.
Officer Nancy Slover, who heard the 5th-July-call (unrecorded), reported the following statement from the killer:
“I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east, on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye…”
A late claim
The absence of phone calls and messages in the aftermath of the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen differentiates this crime from all other murders perpetrated by Zodiac according to the police.
Lake Herman Road is the only official case (including Riverside) in which neither the media nor the police have received any communication from the murderer, until after many months. What had held Zodiac? Why did he wait so long? Conclusions can be many. The most shared is that, for some reason, the perpetrator of the crime was unable to communicate during that period.
In 2018, Bevilacqua would tell the Carabinieri that he passed through California on his way to Vietnam.
Although he would not specifically mention it, the Italian-American likely stopped in San Francisco on his way to Saigon and then Cu Chi. At the time, the airport of the city and that of nearby Oakland were the main hubs for Pan Am charter flights used by Army troops departing and returning to the continental United States to and from Vietnam, on a route that passed also through Hawaii, where the 25th Infantry Division, with which Bevilacqua served on the battlefield, is still headquartered.
A leave spent in San Francisco in December 1968?
Assuming that Bevilacqua was in San Francisco on his birthday, December 20, 1968, is not improper.
By December 1968, Joe was nearing the end of his Vietnam tour. He was stationed near Saigon while serving for the 27th Wolfhounds Infantry Regiment as an intelligence and operations sergeant in the Headquarters Company (military background disclosed).
All American soldiers engaged in Vietnam for at least one year, in 1968, were granted a short period of “Rest and recuperation” which could also be spent outside Vietnam, in a “neighboring” country, such as Hong Kong, Australia and Hawaii itself (see the cartoon above).
In November 1968, Bevilacqua, who had already been awarded the prestigious Silver Star, obtained a Soldier’s Medal as well as a Purple Heart for a wound in combat.
Although normal R&R leaves did not allow soldiers to reach the continental United States, it is plausible that Bevilacqua’s command would have allowed a heroic NCO to spend a short leave in San Francisco, a city where several American troops departed and arrived from and towards Vietnam, which housed the headquarters of the 6th Army in the Presidio base and the Letterman General Hospital, a reference point for many soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War.
It should be noted that a possible future Zodiac victim, Donna Lass, would have worked as a nurse at the Letterman.
Bevilacqua could have been in San Francisco on December 20, 1968, the day of his 33rd birthday and the first attack against a couple attributed to Zodiac, by taking advantage of a leave, maybe for health reasons.
Not only. That day, Bevilacqua could have had breakfast in Vietnam arriving in time for dinner in San Francisco, a few hours before Zodiac’s attack, since the flights from Saigon to San Francisco crossed the international date line from west to east.
A check on Pan Am airways flights in December 1968 shows that a week’s leave would have been enough for a soldier stationed in Vietnam to commit the murder of December 20th.
Once in San Francisco, the soldier on leave could have rented a car, if he didn’t have one of his own already in the area, drive north of the Bay and come across the lay-by on Lake Herman Road.
And the gun? At the time it was still possible to load weapons in the hold with American airlines (link), so the weapon could even have arrived from Vietnam. But he could also have been in custody at a military base in the San Francisco area.
Saigon – Honolulu – San Francisco
According to the Pan Am timetables, Bevilacqua could have taken advantage at least of one of the following 4 flight options to reach San Francisco from Saigon with a 7-day special permit at Christmas time.
17 – 23 DECEMBER
Saigon to San Francisco round trip – PAN AM 814 and 841 (timetable)
17 December – Pan Am 814
Departure: Saigon, 02.20 p.m.
Arrival: San Francisco, 07.45 p.m. (due to time zone differences)
Days of leave available to Bevilacqua in San Francisco:
17 December, from night
18 December
19 December
20 December (murder)
21 December, until night
21 December – Pan Am 841
Departure: San Francisco, 09.00 p.m.
Arrival: Saigon, 10.45 a.m. of December 23 (due to time zone differences)
18 – 25* DECEMBER
Saigon to San Francisco round trip – PAN AM 842 and 841** (timetable)
18 December – Pan Am 842
Departure: Saigon, 11.50 a.m.
Arrive: San Francisco, 04.15 p.m. (due to time zone differences)
Days of leave available to Bevilacqua in San Francisco:
18 December, from night
19 December
20 December (murder)
21 December
22 December, until night
22 December – Pan Am 841
Departure: San Francisco, 09.00 p.m.
Arrival: Honolulu, 00.10 a.m. of December 23*
1 day spent in Honolulu*
24 December – Pan Am 841
Departure: Honolulu, 01.30 a.m.
Arrival: Saigon, 10.15 a.m. of December 25 (due to time zone differences)
*The return journey was on Christmas Eve / Christmas. Joe might have spent one day more in San Francisco taking an extra leave for Christmas and come back on December 26.
**On Sunday, December 22 (timetable), there were other 5 Pan Am flights from San Francisco to Honolulu: 817 (departure 09.00 / arrival 12.10), 833 (departure 09.30 a.m. / arrival 01.45 p.m.), 831 (departure 11.00 p.m / arrival 14.10), 801 (departure 13.00 pm / arrival 16.10), 835 (departure 06.00 p.m. / arrival 09.10 p.m.).
PAN AM R&R Flights Saigon to Honolulu + Honolulu to San Francisco round trips
One could reach San Francisco from Saigon using a combination of different flights.
In December 1968, there was plenty of choice for getting to the California city from Hawaii and vice versa. I list only Pan Am flights here. They are a combination of special R&R flights from Saigon to Honolulu and civil flights from Honolulu to San Francisco inclusive of December 20 and compatible with a 7-day license.
16 – 23 DECEMBER
16 December – P208 or P208A (timetable)
Departure: Saigon, 10.10 a.m. or 05.10 p.m.
Arrival: Honolulu, 05.25 a.m. or 12.25 p.m. (due to time zone differences)
16 December Pan Am 842 or 814 (timetable)
Departure: Honolulu, 09.30 a.m. or 01.00 p.m.*
Arrival: San Francisco, 04.15 p.m. or 07.45 p.m.* (due to time zone differences)
Days of leave available to Bevilacqua in San Francisco:
16 December, from evening or night
17 December
18 December
19 December
20 December (murder)
21 December, until evening
21 December – Pan Am 835 (timetable)
Departure: San Francisco, 06.00 p.m.
Arrival: Honolulu, 09.10 p.m.** (due to time zone differences)
22 December – P207 or P207a
Departure: Honolulu, 01.00 a.m. or 08.00 a.m.
Arrival: Saigon, 08.55 a.m. or 03.55 of December 23 (due to time zone differences)
*On Tuesday, December 16, there were other 2 Pan Am flights to San Francisco: 836 (departure 10.30 a.m. / arrival 05.15 p.m.) and the following 814 (departure 1.00 p.m. / arrival 07.45 p.m.).
**On Saturday, December 21, there were other 5 Pan Am flights to Honolulu: 817 (departure 09.00 a. m./ arrival 12.10 p.m.), 833 (departure 9.30 a.m. / arrival 1.45 p.m.), 831 (departure 11.00 p.m. / arrival 02.10 p.m.), 801 (departure 01.00 p.m. / arrival 04.10. p.m.), 841 (departure 09.00 p.m. / arrival 00.10 a.m. – 22 Dec).
17 – 24 DECEMBER
Saigon to Honolulu (P208 or P208a) + Honolulu to San Francisco round trips (several)
17 December P208 or P208a (timetable)
Departure: Saigon, 10.10 a.m. or 05.10 p.m.
Arrival: Honolulu, 05.25 a.m. or 12.25 p.m. (due to time zone differences)
17 December Pan Am 842 or 814 (timetable)
Departure: Honolulu, 09.30 a.m. or 01.00 p.m.*
Arrival: San Francisco, 04.15 p.m. or 07.45 p.m.
4 full days in San Francisco
17 December, from the evening/night
18 December
19 December
20 December (murder)
21 December
22 December, until evening
22 December – Pan Am 835
Departure: San Francisco, 06.00 p.m.
Arrival: Honolulu, 9.10 p.m.**
23 December – P207 or P207a
Departure: Honolulu, 01.00 a.m. or 08.00 a.m.
Arrival: 08.55 a.m. or 03.55 p.m. of December 24 (due to time zone differences)
*On Wednesday, December 17 (timetable), there were other 2 Pan Am flights to San Francisco: 836 (departure 10.30 a.m. / arrival 05.15 p.m.) and the following 814 (departure 01.00 p.m. / arrival 07.45 p.m.).
**On Sunday, December 22 (timetable), there were other 6 Pan Am flights to Honolulu: 817 (departure 09.00 a. m./ arrival 12.10 p.m.), 833 (departure 09.30 a.m. / arrival 01.45 p.m.), 831 (departure 11.00 p.m. / arrival 02.10 p.m.), 801 (departure 01.00 p.m. / arrival 04.10. p.m.), 835 (departure 06.00 p.m. / arrival 09.10 p.m.), 841 (departure 09.00 p.m. / arrival 00.10 a.m. – 23 Dec).
Zodiac, il Mostro 
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